A Hamas hostage, rescued in a daring Israeli military mission after eight months of “hell” that included chains, blindfolds and being tied with rope, is now transforming his pain into paintings.
Russian-Israeli Andrei Kozlov is launching his first-ever solo art show in Chelsea with a moving collection that reflects his plight in captivity — including physical and psychological torture.
The St. Petersburg native – who is not Jewish – moved to Israel 13 months before Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel, escaping an inevitable draft into Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Before that move, Kozlov wondered, “What are the chances of being in a terror attack?”
Kozlov was working the Nova festival on that fateful day as an unarmed security guard, and captured by a terrorist. He was transported to Gaza, a journey depicted in “Highway to Hell,” a haunting piece that recalls the horrifying car ride with fellow hostage Shlomi Ziv.
The “So-Real Surreal” exhibit — set to open next month at the Lux Contemporary gallery — includes a dozen paintings that pierce the heart, with a nod to some of art’s most influential figures, including Picasso’s blue period and Edvard Munch’s “The Scream.”
“To create something like this, it speaks for me,” Kozlov told The Post. “It’s another way to tell the story.”
The memory of being continually shuffled around for eight months by the terror group is brought to light in his abstract piece, “Maybe,” which shows a dark and narrow alleyway that Kozlov was routinely moved through, wondering whether he would ever make it out alive.
He passed time in captivity finding blank sheets of paper that allowed him to get lost in drawing other worlds he could only dream of.
“It was just for my soul and to get my mind out of this prison,” said Kozlov, who was rescued along with three others during a June 2024 IDF special forces mission.
The cinematic raid by the elite commando team involved heavy gunfire and airstrikes to free Kozlov along with Ziv, Almog Meir Jan and Noa Aragmani — who became the public face of the massacre when she was kidnapped by a motorcyle-riding terrorist.
She was named this week as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year.
It’s one of his “three birthdays,” Koslov said of his rescue and surviving Oct. 7. “It’s the best day of my life.”
Leonardo Munoz
Once free, a blank canvas became his path to healing.
And his story is as much a New York story as it is a Middle East one. It was always Kozlov’s dream to come to New York — and he made it a reality after his rescue to pursue art therapy and the city’s art scene, working on his collection at spaces in Greenpoint and Chelsea.
Emanuel Friedman, whose gallery is hosting the art show, said the collection will find a home in museums “for years and years to come.”
“By accident, I became a symbol of hope,” Koslov, who lives in Midtown, conceded.
“I have a second chance. I need to use it.”